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Jane Eyre (character)
Jane Eyre is the titular character and main protagonist in Charlotte Brontë's novel of the same name. She is the niece of Mrs. Reed, the cousin of John Reed, Eliza Reed, Georgiana Reed, St. John Rivers, Mary Rivers, and Diana Rivers and the wife of Mr. Rochester. After experiencing an unhappy and lonely childhood, she begins to redeem herself when she finds loves and happiness with her master Rochester, until she discovers a terrible secret that would nearly put her romantic life at risk. Jane Eyre is known to be one of the first-known female protagonists in the Victorian era to have a strong-willed and feminist-like personality, and even earned the status as being one of the greatest female heroines of all time. Description Jane is a simple, neglected woman who desires to find the loving and happy home that she never truly had. Storyline Birth/Orphaned Jane was born to Reverend Eyre and Jane Reed. Her father was poor and penniless and Jane marries him, against her wealthy father's wishes not to marry the impoverished clergyman, and because of this, was disowned by her family. They soon had their daughter, named after her mother, but the family lived in poverty after Jane Reed was disinherited. After their daughter's birth, Reverend Eyre and Jane went to a nearby town to visit the poor, but they both contracted and died of typhus. Jane Reed's brother, Mr. Reed, takes pity for his now orphaned niece, and brings her into his family household at Gateshead Hall. His wife, Sarah Reed, does not approve of her husband having Jane being part of the family, mainly that her disgraced sister-in-law was Mr. Reed's favorite sister and that he loved his young niece as his own. Before he dies, Mr. Reed tells his wife to raise Jane as one of their children, but she never keeps his promise and Jane was abused and unloved by Mrs. Reed, as well as her cousins, John, Eliza, and Georgiana Reed. The Reed girls tolerate and torment Jane while John bullies her the most while her female cousins look on. Mrs. Reed had a servant named Bessie to look after the girl. Jane was close to Bessie, who looked after her the most and would listen to her sing songs and tell stories to her. Childhood at Gateshead Ten-year old Jane went outside for a walk one cold November day. She enters the house and goes past the drawing room, where her spoiled cousins John, Eliza and Georgiana are playing around with their mother Mrs. Reed. Jane wasn't allowed to join them, so she goes into another room and takes the book "History of British Birds" off a bookshelf. She sits down on a curtained window seat and starts reading. She likes to imagine her own stories from the pictures she finds in the book. Jane's privacy was interrupted when John barges in looking for her, with his sisters following him. After he finds Jane on her window seat, he demands her to come over to him. He insults her by calling her a "rat" and wanted Jane to show him the book she was reading. She was told by John that she wasn't allowed to read any of their books because she was orphaned and penniless and he throws the book at her, causing Jane to fall over and hit her head against a door, leaving a bloody cut on her head. Jane becomes angry, calls John a murderer and was like the Roman emperors (from some Roman history books she had read), and starts to fight him. During the fight, Mrs. Reed was summoned by the girls, and Jane was punished to be locked in the red-room by her aunt. Bessie and another servant Miss Abbot take a wildly struggling Jane by her arms and lead her towards the door to the red-room. They scold her for disobeying Mrs. Reed, reminding her that she would have lived in poverty without her aunt's care, and warns her about God's anger and punishment. Jane was placed inside the room where the two maids lock the door and leave. Inside the ominous, creepy red-room a few hours later, Jane stares at her reflection in the mirror and wanders why she was seen and treated as a lonely outcast by the Reed's, and that only her Uncle Reed was more kind and loving to her. She knew that the red-room is where Mr. Reed died and his body was laid. She remembers the time when Uncle Reed requested Mrs. Reed bring up Jane as their own child during his last days. She sees a gleaming light on the wall and begins to sense her uncle's ghost is in the room. She starts to panic and bangs on the door, begging to be freed. The servants hear Jane's screams and let her out, but Mrs. Reed comes along and forces Jane back into the red-room and leaves her there for another hour. Jane panics and screams until she passes out from fear and exhaustion. Jane wakes up inside the nursery where she is cared for by the kind apothecary Mr. Lloyd along with Bessie. Jane is feeling miserable and depressed, and her nursemaid tries to cheer her up by singing to her. When she reads her favourite book Gulliver's Travels, she begins to feel a little better. Once she is recovering, she is asked by Mr. Lloyd about her well-being and health. She says that she is unhappy at Gateshead where the Reed's were cruel towards her and that she desperately wants to leave. Mr. Lloyd suggests that Jane should go to school, and she happily agrees on that idea. While she was in bed, she overhears a conversation between Bessie and Miss Abbott, discussing about Jane's parents, while Mrs. Reed had agreed on the idea by Mr. Lloyd to have Jane be sent off to school. Two months go by. Jane continued to be bullied by the Reed children and abused by Mrs. Reed. At one point, Mrs. Reed scolds her when the girl admits that her cousins were not associated with her and having her locked up in her room, Jane says to her of what her parents and Mr. Reed would think of her aunt's behaviour towards her. She became isolated, her cousins stopped bothering her, and when Christmas came, she wasn't allowed to participate in the holiday festivities or receive any gifts, while Bessie continued to help and look after her. But at the same time, Jane became more eager and anticipated of any news of her schooling. Finally, in mid-January, Jane was called into the breakfast room by Mrs. Reed, where she meets Mr. Brocklehurst, the headmaster of her new school, Lowood Institution. She is interviewed by Brocklehurst about religion, and she responds by saying that the Psalms are not interesting. Mrs. Reed tells Brocklehurst that Jane is a liar and that she must be watched carefully while at Lowood. After Brocklehurst leaves, Jane is upset by Mrs. Reed's accusation on her that she finally stands up to her and angrily confronts her that she doesn't love her, is a deceitful and hateful person, and that the sight of her makes her sick. She also says that she hates John more than anything in the world and that Georgiana is a liar instead of her because Jane herself isn't lying at all. She feels satisfied of her victory as Mrs. Reed calmly leaves the room, and goes out for a walk instead of reading. In her last few days at Gateshead, she becomes more closer to Bessie and wanting the attention while she was still being shunned by the Reed's. Category:Female Main Characters Category:Brontë Characters Category:Victorian Characters Category:Female characters Category:Protagonists Category:Smart characters Category:Independent characters Category:Main Characters Who Had a Happy Ending Category:Characters Category:Orphans